Technology previews, reviews and tricks from a Nigerian Standpoint

Games

Taking a look at the rather large image above reminds me of a scene from Chuck Jones’ Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner!!

Anyways, something NEW is Coming! Yes!! And it’s a brand new Angry Birds title called Angry Birds Go! According to Rovio, Angry Birds Go! will be an evolution of Angry Birds games but that would be all to know for now. They didn’t deny us the ability to take a guess as to what it would look like though 😀 and our rather “educated” guess would be that Angry Birds Go! would be an endless runner imitating the popular Temple Run.

Microsoft’s contribution to the personal computing market has, once again, risen our eyebrows… as well as a lot of other people… and maybe yours.

We are at a time when the personal computer industry faces a major setback. Sales figures for everyone has gone far lower than it used to be and thus, the ongoing battle for dominance for personal computer supremacy has become even more gruesome. It’s not so easy for consumers as well; there are so many different types of mobile phones, mobile computers, tablets and the very like out there each with their respective pros and cons. The general public does not have so much money to spend on any technology and make the wrong choice.

The tablet sector unlike before has a myriad of options on familiar mobile Operating Systems. Microsoft made its grand entry with its very own Surface RT which brought competitors alive to the new tablet oriented (and restricted) Windows 8 RT and the growing Microsoft App Store. Following the Surface RT was the Surface Pro which was another bombshell Microsoft placed combining the native Windows 8 Professional with the appealing Surface design. And though these two entries from Microsoft come at pretty hefty price tags, sales figures indicate that people do not really mind having a tablet with Windows 8 on it.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Microsoft, looking to catch up to rivals in the tablet industry, could soon be putting out its own 7-inch tablet later this year stating that “making a small tablet wasn’t an original part of Microsoft’s strategy, but that the company is seeking to adapt to a changing market.” This is most likely as a response to the new 7 inch “mini tablet” wars currently spearheaded by Apple’s iPad mini, Google Nexus and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

It might take some time for computer manufacturers to come out of the very declined sales figures of the first quarter of this year. Possible questions to ask are: would a “mini-Surface” bring more positive changes that Microsoft (and pretty much every one else) needs? Would introducing a new tablet solve the already existing problem of declining sales?

Just like Nintendo opened the door to the 7th generation of gaming consoles they have also announced the first gaming console of the 8th Generation, “The Nintendo WII-U” whose specs show Nintendo really wants to appeal to more than casual gamers this time around.

Technical Specifications:

Processor:

Ninendo claims the WII-U is 20 times more powerful than the Wii. Which from its specs, may even be an understatement as its tone isn’t too geared at Motion Sensor technology but power, unlike the Nintendo WII (which comes with a processor clocked around 729mhz), the WII-U comes with an IBM Power Architecture based multi-core processor (Details of the number of cores and clockrates have not been released yet, but the Power Architecture processor lines have nothing less than 7 cores, the WII-U may have more.), we can expect more life like games with incredible details (as long as developers can push its limits).

GPU:

An AMD Radeon GPU, not much is known about the WII-U GPU yet, but it sure is going to be stronger than all of the ones featured in the 7th Generation systems. According to Videogamer , MCM (Multi-Chip Module) will be used, in which both the CPU and the GPU will be integrated on the same chip/module, to speed up data exchange and reduce cost.

Storage:

From 8GB – 32GB internal flash memory, with SD and USB hard-drive support. Its an improvement from the inbuilt 512MB of the WII. Its features a proprietry 12cm optical disc drive with capacity of up to 25GB ( info ) but lacks Blueray and DVD format support.

Memory:

Fitted with 2GB ram (23 * that of WII, 2 * that of PS3 and Xbox 360 combined). With 1GB dedicated for games and the other 1GB for System software. Well, I think you can imagine how much next gen looking its game will be (maybe a soccer game, with one processor dedicated to the shirt and wind physics, with life like blowing effect).

Controller:

Wii-U GamePad vs DreamCast Controller

Aside from the games powerful hardware, another attraction is the WII-U’s controllers. Although it fully supports all WII controllers.
There’re going to be 2 kinds of WII-U controllers, The WII-U GamePad and WII-U pro controller;
WII-U GamePad, a Dreamcast controller + VMU looking device, a first glare at it takes you down the memory lane of the classic dreamcast controller. The WII-U GamePad is the main form of attraction, aside from the games power, it features;

Ability to supplement the TV display by displaying in place of the TV. (yeah! bro watching movie on the TV, u playing game on the GamePad screen :)).

Remote Control for TVs.

WII-U Pro Controller:

Is the second form of controller, which is targeted at more hardcore gamers. It looks an feels more like the Playstation controller with weird analog positioning. Its going to be way cheaper than the WII-U Gamepad but more traditional for MGS like games but no TV replacement feature 😦 .